


The Survivors

by TulipaNegra



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 23:25:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6774466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TulipaNegra/pseuds/TulipaNegra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Does it ever go away?”, she asked.<br/>The Doctor and Ashildr share a quiet moment after the events of 'The Woman Who Lived'</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Survivors

They sat in silence, the noise of the public house filling the space between them, each lost in thought. Ashildr-yes, she would call herself that again-raised her eyes to the Doctor’s face. Haggard, tired, _old_.

“Does it ever go away?”, she asked.

He seemed almost startled as his eyes found hers.

“The emptiness… Does it ever go away?”

Her voice was soft, but her steady gaze made it evident that she had no desire to be placated. She wanted the truth.

He looked at her with doubt in his eyes, but something shifted in them, and they left her face.

“No”, he said, his voice barely reaching her ears over all the noise. “No, it does not. There are moments-shining moments in time-when you feel as if it’s gone. When you feel whole again. But those are glimmering little moments, in the vast darkness of our life. They cannot last, and after some time, you learn to enjoy them for what they are, and you learn to distrust them. They remind you that the end is near. Because the end is always near. Tick tock tick tock tick tock. The clock is ticking. And it ticks faster as it counts away the centuries. And after all that loss, all that pain and sorrow, the vast hollowness inside you cannot be filled.”

A lump formed in her throat, and she suddenly felt overcome. She didn’t trust herself to speak.

“All we can do is go on and remember.”

She raised her eyes to the Doctor’s, to find his with something she hadn’t seen before in them. They glistened in the dim sunlight that filtered in from the dingy window.

He rose, and smiled.

“I’ll be seeing you.”

He turned on his heel, and was out of her sight in an instant. She sat in the public house a little longer, drinking her ale. It felt like ash in her mouth. She gulped it down anyway. This was her lot now. The never-ending, bitter void. She rose, threw a few coins on the table, and walked outside. She wasn’t seen again in the village.


End file.
